Printer

ABSTRACT

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, a printer comprises: a printer main body which is changeable in mounting gesture; an accommodation section arranged in the printer main body to accommodate the roll paper fed from an opening section; a feeding section arranged to feed the paper from the accommodation section; and a printing section arranged to print on the paper fed by the feeding section, wherein the accommodation section is formed in such a manner that the peripheral wall thereof is gradually enlarged towards the opening section, and is provided with a regulator which regulates and fixes the position of the roll paper in width direction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION:

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-194344, filed Sep. 6, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate to a printer.

BACKGROUND

There is developed a printer which is changeable in mounting gesture, for instance, this printer may be horizontally mounted on a desk or vertically hung on a wall.

In the main body of the printer, there is arranged a bottom-dump hopper in which roll paper is accommodated. The bottom-dump hopper has an opening section for the feeding of the roll paper, a first internal holder section for holding the roll paper when the printer is mounted on a desk, and a second internal holder section for holding the roll paper when the printer is hung on a wall.

During a printing process, paper is fed from the bottom-dump hopper, conveyed to a printing section, printed by the printing section, and then cut into a given size by a cutter section.

The bottom-dump hopper is molded based on a minimal draft angle, with the peripheral wall thereof gradually enlarged from the first holder section towards the opening section. When the printer is mounted on a desk, the opening section of the bottom-dump hopper faces upwards so that the roll paper can be held by the first holder section, and when the printer is hung on a wall, the opening section is placed horizontally so that the roll paper can be held by the second holder section.

In the case where the peripheral wall of the bottom-dump hopper is gradually enlarged from the first holder section towards the opening section to enable the opening section of the bottom-dump hopper to face upwards to achieve the holding of the roll paper by the first holder section, the clearances between the two ends of the roll paper in width direction and the inner wall of the bottom-dump hopper are small, thus, the movement of the roll paper in the width direction is regulated by the inner wall of the bottom-dump hopper, which prevents the occurrence of a position offset.

However, in the case where the opening section of the bottom-dump hopper is placed horizontally to hold the roll paper using the second holder section, the clearances between the two ends of the roll paper in width direction and the inner wall of the bottom-dump hopper are increased by the draft angle of the mould. Especially, when the diameter of the paper roll is decreased as the roll paper is consumed the clearance is increased, mostly resulting in a position offset in the movement of the roll paper in the width direction of the roll paper. Thus, there arises a problem that due to the position offset occurring in the width direction of the roll paper when the paper fed from the bottom-dump hopper is conveyed to the printing section and the cutter section, neither an excellent printing nor an accurate cutting can be implemented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side-sectional view of a printer mounted on a desk according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the printer of FIG. 1 hung on a wall;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the accommodation of the consumed roll paper of FIG. 1 in the first recess of a bottom-dump hopper;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the accommodation of the consumed roll paper of FIG. 2 in the second recess of a bottom-dump hopper;

FIG. 5 is a planar view of the bottom-dump hopper of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a front view of the bottom-dump hopper of FIG. 5 that is longitudinally cut;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the bottom-dump hopper of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the bottom-dump hopper of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, a printer comprises: a printer main body which is changeable in mounting gesture; an accommodation section arranged in the printer main body to accommodate the roll paper fed from an opening section; a feeding section arranged to feed the paper from the accommodation section; and a printing section arranged to print on the paper fed by the feeding section, wherein the accommodation section is formed with a peripheral wall that is gradually enlarged towards the opening section and a regulator that regulates and fixes the position of the roll paper in width direction.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side-lateral view of the internal structure of a printer according to an embodiment.

The printer, which prints information on strip paper rolled into a roll, is provided with a printer main body 1 which can be horizontally or longitudinally mounted. The printer main body 1 may be optionally mounted on a desk or hung on a wall. FIG. 1 shows the horizontal mounting of the printer main body on a desk, and FIG. 2 shows the longitudinal hanging of the printer main body on a wall.

The wider side 2 of the printer main body 1 in width direction is a mounting section 3 for mounting the printer main body 1 horizontally on a desk or longitudinally on a wall.

Moreover, the printer main body 1 has an outer cover 7 that can be opened or closed by taking a hinge 6 as the center, and a hopper 9 that serving as an accommodation section for accommodating roll paper 8 and a printing section 10 serving as a printer member are arranged in the printer main body 1. The roll paper 8 consists of strip thermal paper (hereinafter referred to as paper) 8 b that is rolled on a roll core 8 a into a roll. An arc-shaped protrusion surface 7 a is formed on the outer cover 7 to reserve a movement space for the roll paper 8 with the biggest roll diameter.

The printing section 10 consists of a platen 12 serving as a feeding section that is rotated under the drive of a platen motor and a thermal head 14 that is propped against the platen 12 under the elastic force of a head spring 13.

A cutter 16 driven by a cutter motor and a sensor 17 for detecting the home position of the cutter 26 are arranged at the downstream side of the printer 10.

A paper end sensor 19 is arranged at the upstream side of the printer 10 and located between the hopper 9 and the platen 12 to detect the existence of the paper.

Moreover, an outer cover opening/closing sensor 20 is arranged on the upper portion of the platen 12 to detect the opening/closing of the outer cover 7.

The hopper 9 has a first holder section 9 a and a second holder section 8 b for supporting the outer peripheral surface of the roll paper 8.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the first mounting section 3 is placed on the bottom to horizontally mount the printer main body 1 on a desk, the roll paper 8 is held by the first holder section 9 a, and as shown in FIG. 2, when the first mounting section 3 is vertically hung on a wall, the roll paper 8 is held by the second holder section 9 b.

Moreover, a first recess 22 is formed on the first holder section 9 a, and a second recess 23 is formed on the second holder section 9 b. When the paper 8 b is consumed so much that the roll diameter of the roll paper 8 is reduced to below a certain value, the roll paper 8 falls under the action of gravity and is then accommodated in the first recess 22 or the second recess 23.

In the structure above, when printing is implemented, the paper 8 b is fed as the platen 12 rotates, and information is printed on the paper 8 b using the thermal head 14. The printed paper 8 b is conveyed by a given distance to the cutter 16 to be cut into a given size and is then discharged.

When the roll diameter of the roll paper 8 is reduced to below a certain value as the paper 8 b is consumed during the printing, in the case where the printer main body 1 is mounted on a desk, as shown in FIG. 3, the roll paper 8 falls under the action of gravity and is therefore accommodated in the first recess 22 of the hopper 9; in the case where the printer main body 1 is hung on a wall, as shown in FIG. 4, the roll paper falls under the action of gravity and is therefore accommodated in the second recess 23 of the hopper 9.

Moreover, the hopper 9 is molded based on a minimal draft angle.

FIG. 5 is a planar view of the hopper 9 in the printer main body 1 mounted on a desk (shown in FIG. 3) , and FIG. 6 is a front view of the bottom-dump hopper of FIG. 5 that is longitudinally cut.

The surface of the hopper 9 at the side of the mold stripping direction of the mould is set to be the opening section 25 from where the roll paper 8 is fed to the hopper 9 for accommodation. The first holder section 9 a provided with the first recess 22 is formed on the inner bottom of the hopper 9. The roll paper 8 with a reduced roll diameter is accommodated in the first recess 22. Moreover, the peripheral wall 26 of the hopper 9 is gradually enlarged from the inner bottom part towards the opening section 25.

As stated above, the peripheral wall 26 of the hopper 9 is gradually enlarged from the inner bottom part towards the opening section 25, therefore, the clearances between the two ends of the roll paper 8 in width direction and the inner wall of the hopper 9 are gradually widened towards the opening section 25.

When the printer main body 1 is mounted on a desk, as the roll paper 8 is held by the first holder section 9 a on the inner bottom of the hopper 9, the clearances between the two ends of the roll paper 8 in width direction and the inner wall of the hopper 9 are narrow. Therefore, the movement of the roll paper in the width direction of the roll paper is regulated by the inner wall of the bottom-dump hopper, which prevents the occurrence of a position offset. As a result, even the paper 8 b fed from the hopper 9 is conveyed to the printing section 10 and the cutter 16, the position offset in the width direction of the paper is small enough for an excellent printing and cutoff.

However, when the printer main body 1 is hung on a wall, as the roll paper 8 is held by the second holder section 9 b, the roll paper 8 is close to the opening section 25. Therefore, the clearances between the two ends of the roll paper 8 in width direction and the inner wall of the hopper 9 are widened by the draft angle of the mould, especially, when the diameter of the roll of the roll paper 8 is reduced due to the consumption on the roll paper 8, the clearance is further widened.

As a result, in the hopper 9, the roll paper 8 is likely to be subjected to a severe position offset in width direction, the paper 8 b that is conveyed from the hopper 9 to the printing section 10 and the cutter 16 is also subjected to a severe position offset, resulting in a poor printing and cutoff.

Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a protrusion section 28 is arranged in the hopper 9 to serve as a regulator to regulate the position offset (in width direction) of the roll paper 8 in the hopper 9.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the bottom-dump hopper of FIG. 4 that is longitudinally cut, and FIG. 8 is planar view of the bottom-dump hopper of FIG. 7 that is horizontally cut.

The protrusion section 28 serving as the regulator is wholly inwards protruded on the inner sides of two lateral walls of the second holder section 9 b of the hopper 9.

The protrusion section 28 has an inclined guide side 28 a, along which the roll paper 8 falling under the action of gravity after being consumed and reduced in roll diameter is guided into the second recess 23. The two ends of the guided roll paper 8 in width direction are clamped between the lower ends of the guide side 28 a, thereby regulating the position offset of the roll paper in width direction.

As stated above, in this embodiment, the protrusion section 28 arranged in the hopper 9 can regulate and fix the position of the roll paper 8 in width direction even when the position of the roll paper 8 held in the hopper 9 is changed as the mounting gesture of the printer main body 1 is changed, therefore, the position of the paper 8 b fed from the hopper 9 is stabilized.

Thus, the paper 8 b in the printing section 10 or cutter 16 is subjected to no position offset and can be therefore printed or cut off excellently.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions. 

1. A printer, comprising: a printer main body which is changeable in mounting gesture; an accommodation section arranged in the printer main body to accommodate the paper fed from an opening section; a feeding section configured to feed the paper from the accommodation section; and a printing section configured to print on the paper fed from the feeding section, wherein the accommodation section is formed in such a manner that the peripheral wall thereof is gradually enlarged towards the opening section, and is provided with a regulator which regulates and fixes the position of the roll paper in width direction.
 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the regulator is arranged on the inner wall of the accommodation section that is opposite to the two ends of the roller paper in width direction.
 3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein the accommodation section is provided with a first and second holder sections which hold the roll paper according to the mounting gesture of the printer main body.
 4. The printer according to claim 3, wherein the gestures include the gesture of the printer main body mounted on a desk and the gesture of the printer main body hung on a wall, when the printer main body is mounted on a desk, the roll paper is held by the first holder section, and when the printer main body is hung on a wall, the roll paper is held by the second holder section.
 5. The printer according to claim 4, wherein the regulator is arranged on the inner wall of the accommodation section that is opposite to the two ends of the roller paper held by the second holder section in the width direction of the roll paper. 